Villa becomes bookies' favorite to land Austin

When in doubt, look to the bookies. With rumors always swirling, the bookies always seem to know something that we don't - and Villa fans will be hopeful that they are right yet again today, as Villa have moved into the pole position to sign QPR's star striker Charlie Austin on every betting service. Villa are as low as 1/2 on BetVictor, but sit around the 4/6 offered by SkyBet for most other providers. Newcastle are second to Villa with odds of around 3/1, followed by West Ham, and a distant Manchester United. Crystal Palace's unlikely odds come as a bit of a surprise following reports last week that Austin was Alan Pardew's primary target aside from Yohan Cabaye.

Austin is a natural goalscorer, and was incredibly efficient and productive in QPR's bid for Premier League survival last season. It has become clear that he deserves to be playing in a top quality league, and his departure from QPR seems unavoidable. Tim Sherwood is on the verge of losing star striker Christian Benteke to Liverpool, and will need to account for the goals that he takes with him. Austin seems like a logical replacement for the big Belgian, but it remains to be seen whether Sherwood will meet QPR's asking price of 15 million pounds.

Do you want to see Austin in the claret and blue, even for his reported price tag? Let us know!